Arrow Season 3, Episode 2 Review

Mourning the loss of one of their own, Team Arrow is forced to face their heartbreak in the aftermath of last week’s horrifying cliff-hanger.

If you were expecting a dramatic intro filled with gut-wrenching violins showing Laurel breaking the news of Sara’s death, then prepare for a surprise. We open this week’s episode with a cold, hard-hitting intro of Sara lying dead as Team Arrow walk into the ‘cave’ for another day’s work. I enjoyed the writer’s decision to show the reality of death. There’s no proper way of coping, and all the team can do is help each other through this tough time of mourning.I found it fantastic watching Oliver struggle with his ability to grieve. Although having the troubled hero refuse to mourn and focus solely on taking down Sara’s killer was borderline cliché, Amell delivered the performance brilliantly. His struggle to remain collected and level-headed in the face of another loved one dying offers an interesting path that is explored towards the end of the episode: choice. Or more importantly, Oliver’s revelation that there is only one way the hero path leads: death. Surely that was enough to break viewers’ hearts all over again.

We see Roy, Diggle and Felicity stand together in their sorrow, and it once again shows the bond between the group. We also witness Laurel deal with her sister’s death in a raw and saddening way, as she hides her loss from her father, Lance, whose illness is too much for a broken Laurel to add to his pain. We can assume that this decision will come back to haunt her at some point.

Hong Kong flashbacks reveal Tommy – surprise, surprise – searching for his best friend after his email account is activated. Facing an equally tough decision in the past, Oliver is forced into faking a kidnapping and setting the issue straight; Oliver Queen is dead, and isn’t coming back. Though Tommy is sent away, I felt extremely nostalgic in wishing he were alive to help Oliver today.Present-day Oliver receives excellent words of advice from an equally important person in his life – Felicity. The two shared a moment last night that really showed how Felicity stands on her own two feet just as a superhero does. “Life is precious”, she says, and I expect we were all taking these words to heart as much as Oliver was. She leaves, wanting more from life, and at the end of the episode accepts Ray’s job offer at Queen’s Consolidated. It’ll be interesting to see how both relationships develop from here.

The reveal that Sara’s killer has not in fact been identified, as Oliver and the group first thought, leaves an air of dangerous suspense that will most likely carry out for another handful of episodes. Who did kill Sara Lance? Place your bets now.

We all see the final shots of Thea, adopting not only a kickass new hairdo but also a developed skillset of fighting. Clearly someone’s been having daddy-daughter bonding time as we see Malcolm look proudly on, leaving us with only one question: Has she really forgiven her murderous, psychopathic father in such a short space of time? Apparently so.